Best Practices for Integrating the SRD

Forged in the Dark The Workshop
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Hello,

Background: My Forged in the Dark project currently is prefaced with “patch notes” detailing differences between the SRD material and my version. It tells readers to assume the SRD is in effect unless I note exceptions. This works well for my playtest group, but they are veterans of Blades and Scum and Villainy with experience with the system.

Were I to expand this into a full product I’d integrate everything together like the Scum and Villainy authors did, but I was thinking of trying to clean this up and team up with an artist to target ZineQuest 3. In the Zine format I’d want to keep the pagecount as low as possible, and was wondering how folks thought it was best to handle the SRD as a document separate to the product. (And if you have an example of where it has been handled well that I could purchase and check out, that would be great, I’m only familiar with Blades and Scum!)

Were I making it into a Zine should I keep my patch-notes style format? Is there anything I can do to make that less of a shock for non-Blades veterans? Should I even have that as a major concern, or should I simply target Blades players looking to branch out?

Thank you for reading and thanks in advance for any advice.

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Hey Adam, welcome to the forums!

This is a pretty common step in hack of Blades in the Dark. Many projects spend time assuming the SRD is true and only highlight the differences, and instruct the reader to do so.

I think a zine-type project that references the SRD or Blades for any unchanged rules would be reasonable, I’ve certainly seen Forged in the Dark games for sale on itch that have done so. Perhaps a bulleted list of changed/unchanged aspects that can help folks tell at a glance would help. In my experience even RPG folks who haven’t played Blades have a copy they’ve read or always wanted to use, so I think you can assume there’s a market out there. Just be sure to point it out early and clearly!

As for integrating the SRD, I recommend not copy and pasting the relevant bits into your game. Better to rephrase and use your own voice, it’ll help in the long run when you’re making changes and revisions.

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Thank you and I appreciate the very thoughtful reply!